It's one of the most visually stunning movies of all time, especially on the big screen - every shot is like a painting, with its beautiful compositions, scenes of endless desert and sunsets, Bedouin warriors charging over dunes, match cuts, horizons, trains being blown up, the waves of the Red Sea lapping at the shores, the large expanse of the British head quarters, the chaos of the Arab Council.
Peter O'Toole is beautiful too with his pink face and blonde hair, as is Omar Sharif (who has one of the great star entrances of all time, trotting across the desert from a distance, shooting someone, then unveiling his face), with their flowing robes and angst.
It's a smart epic, with its cynically pragmatist politicians (Claude Rains, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins), and tormented hero full of contradictions (masochistic, Christ-like, tormented, egoist, self-loathing, brave, a nervous wreck), and nervous breakdowns and machinations. There is some first rate smart dialogue and plenty of points of view.
Everyone who has a speaking role as a definite role to play: the most showy part of course is Lawrence, but there's also the dry, smart political Claude Rains, the practical let's-do-what-I-can Arab king Guiness, lusty adventurer with his own code of honour Anthony Quinn, devoted follower and closet liberal Omar Sharif, smart soldier Hawkins, stressed out Anthony Quayle, cynical journalist Arthur Kennedy.
The performances match the characterisation - others considered for the lead included Marlon Brando and Albert Finney, but neither would have been as good as O'Toole, who has the flamboyance, intelligence and glint of madness (you could imagine him playing Wingate, for instance). (Alec Guiness would have made a good Lawrence too - possibly less crazy but more ethereal; I would have been interested to see what Dirk Bogarde could have done with it as well).
Sharif is a limited actor - as we would soon find out - but extremely effective. Guiness has this fascinating odd combination of seeming weakness but actual inner strength, and Rains, Hawkins and Quayle offer solid support.
And yet. And yet...
It's a very long film - and for all the gorgeous images and epic scope it doesn't have to be as long as it is. Much of it feels repetitive - Lawrence bonds with an assistant who is killed three times, feeling guilty each time; Lawrence bonds with an Arab at least six separate times (three assistants, Guiness, Sharif, Quinn); Lawrence looks offended by the British referring to the Arabs as wogs at least twice; Lawrence cracks up several times; Kennedy makes a crack about Lawrence being egotistical several times; Lawrence feels on the outer of his British people several times. It's like there isn't much progression - Lawrence is half mad and wary of British interests from the beginning, and winds up that way at the end, only he's a bit more mad.
A lot of people in Hollywood regard this as the perfect movie, with its combination of action, scope, psychology and history - Spielberg, Peter Guber, etc - but the fact is it isn't. Not really. But I guess if you saw it at a certain age it would have knocked your socks off. And there is certainly much to admire.
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